1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to telephone controller apparatus and, more particularly, to such apparatus which enables or disables a selected telephone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, telephone signals are transmitted through telephone lines to a desired telephone which may be located in a home or office. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, a telephone signal is transmitted from a sending telephone (not shown) through a telephone line 8, a local telephone line 20 (contained within the home or office), a telephone jack 18 and a cable 12 to a designated telephone 10. In a similar manner, a signal may be transmitted from telephone 10 through the same transmission path to another designated telephone.
Situations may arise when a person having plural extension telephones all coupled to the same local telephone line does not wish telephone signals to be transmitted to or from one or more of his or her telephones. For example, it may be desirable not to have telephone signals transmitted to or from an extension telephone located in a child's room after a certain time. It may also be desirable not to have telephone signals transmitted to an extension telephone located in the same room as someone who is ill, so as not to disturb the person. Further, it may be desirable to disengage extension telephones in an office after business hours so as to prevent the unauthorized use thereof.
In the prior art, signal transmission to or from a particular telephone is typically prevented by disconnecting the telephone from the telephone jack connected thereto, which may be accomplished by disconnecting connectors 14 or 15, shown in FIG. 1, from mating connectors 16 or 17, respectively. In a similar manner, the telephone is made operative by re-connecting the disconnected connector. As is to be appreciated, a telephone jack may have limited accessibility, thereby making the connections and disconnections thereto difficult. As a result, controlling the signal transmission to one or more telephones is inconvenient and time consuming. Further, numerous connections and disconnections from the telephone jack may damage connector 14 and/or mating connector 16 which, in turn, deteriorates the quality of the transmitted signal. Thus, the prior art has failed to provide a means for controlling signal transmission to or from one or more telephones which is convenient to use and of relatively low cost.